WAFP, you do have issues. You are picking an argument about issues that were not even brought up until you brought them up - until you went VFR direct to how bad your deal is, nobody was talking about how bad your deal is or how much you did. But, since we are here...

I am better than you? I think you talked about guys like me sitting pretty and how your deal sucks so much worse than mine did, so I gave a little background - is that I am better than you?

I don't know why it upsets you so, but there are degrees of support for the mission. We all ended up where we were told to go, and we are doing exactly what we are told to do, but some roles contribute more directly than others. For example, the motor pool people at Charleston AFB contribute to the airlift mission. The may not contribute as directly as the crew flying the cargo into the theater, but they do their part so that everyone else can do their part, so that the cargo can get downrange. It may not seem fair to the young guys, but that's reality.

With the possibility of upsetting Sputnick, I will let you know that all of my OPR's from the KC-10 list how many pounds of cargo that I carried into this or that theater, and how many pounds of fuel that I transferred to X number of receivers from X number of services and nations. Considering that I was in the KC-10 when the C-141 was effectively grounded due to window cracks and the C-5 was, well, the C-5 - those numbers were higher than those of pilots flying our "real" airlifters. Tell me, what does that really mean anyway? Would you fly from Pt A to Pt B differently if you had 15,000 lbs of freight vs. 150,000 lbs of freight? What would have happened if that freight was delayed a day, would people have died? How about a week? Oh, I know there are time-critical missions here and there (medevac, etc), but did you fly those any differently than you would a local? What percentage of the total missions were those missions? Were you picked specifically for those missions or do they just come down and get assigned to crews randomly? On the most critical of those missions, did you make any decisions or did you just swing the gear? If you had not delivered those MRAP's, would they still have gotten there somehow? Could they have gotten there tomorrow? I did not intend to get into a pi___ng match with you, if you read all of my posts you will see that I feel strongly that everyone should know how they contribute to the overall mission no matter what they do. That means that the motor pool guy should know how providing vehicles enables the cargo to get downrange, not just that he provides vehicles.

You are obviously one of those guys who thinks your own job is the most important. I will admit that most of the USAF jobs out there are important to the mission, and some are more critical than others, but you have a certain fervor about your role. Are you not satisfied with your role.

You know, I was never an A-10 pilot. Even with that, I think they have a crucial role in one of the most imortant missions out there - CAS. When our troops are in danger of being overrun by the enemy, there is nothing that our forces would rather see than an A-10. The A-10 can roll in an put down 30mm rounds within 10's of feet of our forces. With that kind of potential for error the precision required, the timing required, and the situational awareness required are all critical. If the A-10 pilot doesn't get it right, the potential of troops dying is high - either from the A-10 rounds killing US troops or from the A-10 rounds not killing the enemy and they move on to kill our troops. Based on all of that, I'd say A-10 pilots play a pretty critical role. As a matter of fact, in some environments, I'd say their presence is critical to the success of the mission. If they don't show up, there is no one else to take up the slack - it's either them or no one.

Let's compare that to the C-5. You delivered 24 MRAP's, an important mission no doubt. What if you or your C-5 had not been there? Could a C-17 have done the role? Could they have trucked in the MRAP's? How about the other airlifters, what were they carrying? Were some carrying bullets? Where do they fit into the criticallity of the mission, higher or lower than an MRAP? If you delivered your MRAP an hour late, would our troops have been overrun? What if you would have had to go missed approach? What if there were no soldiers, would we still win the war just because you delivered the MRAP's - do MRAP deliveries on their own win wars?

Back to those A-10's. Did I mention that they were taking small arms and RPG fire? What about the manpad threat? While there is always a threat in theater, do you really take your C-5 into an area before we have air and ground superiority? Is landing a C-5 in Balad the same as taking your A-10 and pointing at the very people who are shooting at you, driving down to 50' AGL, and unloading your 30mm at blurs on the ground that you had better be sure are the enemy? I landed the KC-10 under threat of fire and under active fire, but it isn't the same as that A-10 guy. If the shooting was that hot, you wouldn't land. The A-10 pilot has no choice - he's going in. Does the C-5 land behind enemy lines, because the A-10 goes behind enemy lines. Etc, etc, etc.

You know, I carried Army troops into and out of Mogadishu. Even before the blackhawk shootdown, I knew that although we were all contributing to the same mission, my role was not nearly as direct as theirs. That's life. The USAF said go fly a KC-10 and I did. I accepted it, and I commited myself to doing my role to the best of my ability so that those who were really doing the job were not let down. Want an analogy. Surgery would not be successful unless the ER was clean, so the janitorial staff is obviously important. But, do you really think they have more of a direct role than the surgeon. How about the surgery nurse vs the surgeon, all important but there are degrees. KC-10's are critical to getting the fighters to the fight, but are they more critical than the fighters? Could the fighters get there another way, albeit not quite as quickly? Not having the KC-10 might cause a delay that could result in the battle being lost, but not having the fighters would result in us losing with no battle at all.

Your issue is with your acceptance of where you fit in to this whole act. From your first post, you had some anger issue - as if I had called you out in some way. That is an issue with you, and your need to show how others contribute less than you. Don't get me wrong, I'd go with this all day - it would bore everyone else, though.

P.S. Since you can't figure it out for yourself, let's talk about what your F-15 buddy has accomplished. Right now, there is no credible air-air threat in the current war. There are countries with a credible air-air threat - just not the ones we are fighting right now. Why is that? Did it just happen, or was it because your buddy and those before him have become the most formidable air superiority force in the world? Could it be because they have done their jobs so well that all of these countries have decided that they will get almost no bang for the buck by investing in an air force that will be destroyed on day 1? Could it be that these countries have decided that SAM's are the only way for them to go if they want to even have a chance at defending themselves against our USAF? Are you sure our F-15's haven't played a role in this war. Did they not do their job by causing the Iraqi's to fly their fighters to other countries or bury them in the sand? I know you would rather think that your buddy is playing no role in this war, but they are actually having an effect by just being in existence.

As far as my willingness to step up and do the UAV mission, I guess we'll never know. And when the fighters leave the AOR, there had better not be a high threat or the C-5's won't be going there either.